How does listing your collections in a public accessible database cause your collections to be insecure? For that matter, if your collections indexes are searchable on say, the Internet, how does that make them insecure? I don't understand your reasoning. ------ Robert Handy Brazoria County Historical Museum 100 East Cedar Angleton, Texas 77515 (409) 864-1208 museum_bob [log in to unmask] http://www.bchm.org ---------- From: John Scafidi TAL 850/488-5090[SMTP:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Wednesday, January 06, 1999 12:39 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Web Databases (collections) I am puzzled by Mr. Ryan's request for information. I hasten to point out I have no wish to flame him or dis his request. But I do want to make some talk about the topic, and I think listers - including all you students out there - should, too. There seems a tendency among us to consider all data as equal, since to a computer all data ARE equal. Therefore, the line of reasoning seems to go, all data are equally share - able. The only danger, if we are of a suspicious frame of mind, is possible corruption of our data by the occasional hacker or careless user. However, I am not a computer. I am a human, and I work (I think) for the public in the present and in a future which will extend far beyond my life span. We attempt to keep our collections data close, allowing little insecure (so far as we know) access. When I entered museum work in the seventies, cheap (free for employees) xerographic copying was all the rage; opportunities for data leakage on paper were considered dangerous, and potential for leakage via the new electronic data storage devices were worrisome. Insecure data were viewed as potential shopping lists for industrious thieves. I continue thinking this way and acting out my thinking. However, I have begun to understand that some colleagues may consider my point of view as old fashioned or extreme. Yet our greatest sorrow as professionals is that sometimes our friends, with whom we are most anxious to exchange data, have proved to be fifth columnists of the worst sort. (I read what I have written and realize it may appear paranoid to many in the field, but...) I cannot see any hope for collections physical security unless we attempt to ensure collections data security. Perhaps this is an extreme point of view. Let's talk. John A. Scafidi Florida State Parks Tallahassee, FL [log in to unmask]